Grazie per i ricordi
by riverwife
Summary: It was time pack up all the junk Rin's collected over the years before he leaves for college. Looking through a few a boxes wouldn't hurt, would it?. (In which Haruka and Rei find out how much of an embarrassment Rin was when he was as a young punk)


Rei could think of many ways his Sunday afternoon could have been spent. Weight training, studying for upcoming tests, researching possible colleges he wanted to attend, the list went on. He couldn't believe that he agreed to come over to Rin's house to help him and Haruka pack up for their move to Tokyo but he had no choice. It was after a joint practice at Samezuka on Friday that Haruka had come up to the rest of the Iwatobi swim club and asked if any of them had time on Sunday to help him and Rin finish packing up all of his belongings. Makoto had to go to a graduation party his family was throwing for him and Nagisa was leaving for Kyoto the next day for his eldest sister's wedding so the only one left was Rei. He didn't have anything planned for his Sunday but the look Haruka gave him convinced him that he should say he was willing to help. So here he was standing awkwardly on the doorstep of the Matsuoka residence debating on the effectiveness of knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell to get the attention of anyone inside. He had decided on the doorbell when he was hit in the face by door, someone had opened it.

"Sorry, I didn't think there was somebody in front of the door. Are you okay, 'cause I heard you scream."

Rei stood up and felt his face, his glasses must have flown off when he was hit. He could make out a short woman with red hair through his blurry vision and deduced that it was Gou talking to him, since she was only female Matsuoka he knew. "I shouldn't have stood so close to door in the first place so really I should be the one apologizing, Gou-san."

"Gou-san? You must be confused, weren't you wearing glasses?."

Rei squinted down at the ground trying to find his glasses when he felt a finger tap his shoulder and turned around, the woman was holding his glasses out to him. He thanked her and examined them to make sure there weren't any scratches or smudges on the lenses before putting them on and stood up. The woman frowning at him was definitely not Gou.

"Oh! Forgive me, I didn't know Rin-san had a older sister."

The woman stared at him before giving him a toothy smile, Gou didn't have sharp teeth like Rin the last time he saw her.

"I'm not Rin's older sister but thank you. I'm his mother, Matsuoka Akane." She held out her hand and he shook it as she continued on. "You must be here help him and Haru finish pack up. They're in his room but you're gonna have to wait a while. We ran out of packing so I gotta run to the store real quick."

Akane waved at Rei as she hurried into the car and drove off. Rei closed the front door behind him as he walked into the Matsuoka house and took his shoes off at the genkan. Finding Rin's room wasn't hard, he just had to follow the sound of Rin's yelling. He walked in just to see Rin and Haruka with a cardboard box between them, tugging it towards one another like two children fighting over a toy.

"Haru, these are just some old clothes I'm gonna donate in this box so let go."

"You looked like you were going to throw up when your mom showed this to us so I don't think there;s just some old clothes in here."

Rei watched them for a few more minutes before clearing his throat loudly to get their attention. Haruka gave him a blank look while Rin looked at him like he was an angel that had descended from heaven. "Rin-san, Haruka-senpai, what-"

"Rei, grab Haru so I can throw this junk away."

"Rei, hold Rin down."

Rei looked between and tried to decide whose order to listen to, he chose Haruka since Rin would just curse him out and punch him in the shoulder if he was pissed at him but he had no idea what Haruka would do to him and he really didn't want to find out. Rei stalked towards Haruka as if he was going to tackle him and quickly jumped over the box to Rin, pinning him to ground. Rei had a hard time keeping Rin down, he kept kicking out beneath him and bucking around trying to free his arms from Rei's grip.

"Rei, lemme go! Haru, you cock-sucking little fuck, when I get my hands on you-" Haruka interrupted Rin by saying "You've never complained about me being a little cocksucker before". Rin froze and stared at Rei in horror, Rei could see a flush rising up on his face and he could feel his own face heat up, he had little interest in hearing his friends' sexlife. Rei suddenly found himself on his back and looked up to see Rin sit up and glare at Haruka, who was using a pair of scissors to open the box he and Rin had argued over. Rin was clenching and unclenching his fists as the harsh sound of scissors cutting through cardboard practically echoed in the empty room and Rei was worried he was going to launch himself across the room at Haruka when he heard Haruka grunt and a loud ripping sound. Rei sat up just as Haruka took out what looked like CD cases out of the box, he noticed Rin relax in his peripheral vision.

"This is what you were so worried about, Rin-san? Those are nothing but old CDs." Rei turned around and almost yelped when he felt Rin's hand squeeze his shoulder hard enough to bruise. Rin shoved him aside and crawled over to Haruka. He took one the CDs out of the box and examined it; Rei picked up another one that was on the ground and read the cover. There was man in a gasmask on the cover.

"Park Meteor?"

Rin snatched the CD out his hand and read the cover out loud. "It's Meteora, dumbass. It was an album made by Linkin Park. You're almost a third year and you can't even read a simple CD cover, how bad is your English anyway?" Rei wanted to defend his English reading abilities but that would mean he would start an argument with Rin and his body still ached from being thrown around.

"Let's listen to it."

The album disappeared from Rin's hand and Haruka picked his way through the various boxes to the CD player on Rin's desk. He opened it and put the CD inside. "Rin, which song so you want to play?" Rin snapped out of whatever daze he was in to answer Haruka.

"Oh, uh, Somewhere I Belong."

"Rin, I don't understand English."

"Fuck, Haru, just go to the third song."

Haruka skipped the first two songs and after an intro of what sounded like techno moody rock music blasted out of the speakers causing Haruka to take a step back and raise his eyebrows in surprise before turning the volume down. All eyes were on Rin for the first minute of the song until he growled and glared at each of them. "What the hell's wrong with you two, Linkin Park is great just wait until the next song comes on you'll love it." The next song went straight to the point and started with heavy guitar riffs reminiscent of heavy metal and Haruka stopped the CD and turned towards Rin.

"We're not taking this to Tokyo."

"No, I'm taking it Tokyo with me and you can't tell me what to do."

"Rin-san, isn't the apartment lease in both your's and Haruka-senpai's names? Since the both of you will be living together I think Haruka-senpai has a say in what kind of music will be played. Also I think your taste in music is questionable Rin-san, it's very dark and inelegant, in layman's terms it would described as emo." Rin looked like he was going to strangle Rei but he continued on, he believed Haruka would stop Rin if things got out of hand. "I have heard that music affects the psychology of athletes and the music that this Linkin Park plays would affect you and Haruka-senpai negatively." Rin stared at Rei until he started to squirm where he sat and pulled him by the collar of his shirt to whisper in his ear.

"Are trying to say that Linkin Park sucks, Ryugazaki?"

Rei released a weak "Haruka-senpai" while trying to pry Rin's fingers off of his shirt. The young man in questione was seated in front the box again and rummaging through it. He dully glanced over at Rei before saying, "You brought this on yourself, Rei." He was no help in this situation. Rei took a couple of deep breaths and looked Rin straight in the eyes.

"Rin-san, I'm sorry if I offended you with my theory on music, I was just stating my thoughts on the matter without consideration of your feelings. I didn't mean to say that Linkin Park sucked, can you forgive me?"

Rin had opened his mouth when Haruka pushed the box over, causing a loud boom when it hit the floor. All sorts of books, CDs, and other things spilled from it, Haruka picked the box of and shook it to make sure it was empty before putting it to the side. Rin released Rei and scrambled over to the pile before glaring at Haruka. "Haru, what the fuck were you thinking! What if there was something in there that could break!" Realization dawned on Rin's face and Rei thought he could see a little fear too. "Shit, what if something did break!" Rin started opening CD cases in a blind panic probably to see if something did in fact break and justify the asskicking he was going to give Haruka. Haruka was thumbing through a book he had picked up from the pile and Rei duck walked to his side.

"Haruka-senpai, why did you do that? You really could have damaged one of Rin-san's belongings, he seems to value them greatly."

Haruka closed the book and held it out to Rei. He took it and read the cover. "Is this a Sailor Moon tankobon?" The clacking of plastic suddenly stopped and Rei felt a dark presence to his right. Haruka picked up another tankobon, which was also a Sailor Moon one, and examined it. "Rin, these look pretty used up, did you read them a lot as a kid?" Rei thought he saw a smirk on Haruka's face but he dismissed it as a shadow from the sunlight falling out the window on him.

"Those aren't mine. They're Gou's."

This time Rei could see a visible smirk in Haruka's face and felt sorry for Rin.

"Really? But all of them have "Property of Matsuoka Rin" written on them in Japanese and English."

"She gave them to me to take to Australia with me, yanno, to read if I ever I got homesick. I wrote my name on them so if I lost them people could find me and give 'em back."

Haruka looked over at Rei and he took it as his cue to find something to point out that Rin did own the Sailor Moon tankobon. "Uh, well then Rin-san, why is your name written on this...box collection..of the entire Sailor Moon anime.." Rei stared at the box in his hands in dumbfound awe and Haruka's smirk had grown into devious grin while Rin paled and looked like he was about to scream. He flinched and turned to see that Haruka had put his hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Rin, we have nothing against you liking Sailor Moon." Rei placed his hand on Rin's other shoulder and gave him a gentle smile. "Don't worry Rin-san, we'll defend you if anyone calls you a creep for liking media aimed at young girls." The floorboards in the hallway creaked and all three young men turned their heads to see Akane walked in with a box of packing tape.

"I heard you guys all the way down the stairs, what are doing in here?"

Her eyes zeroed in on the pile of books in the middle of the room and a smile sprung on her face.

"Ah, Rin, you finally opened that box. I got worried when you packed up all your Sailor Moon stuff, you were always going on about how you wanted a love as pure and strong as Usagi's and Mamoru's." Rei's breathing got heavier as he tried to control the urge to laugh and Haruka wrapped his arm around Rin's waist and buried his head in his neck, Rei could make out a smile from how his face was scrunched up. Akane kneeled down and picked up a piece of pink plastic. "This was the first toy I bought him when he was about seven. Rin, what was this called? I know it was one of the things Sailor Moon used but she has so many of them." She looked at Rin expectantly and Haruka squeezed him in encouragement before he slumped his shoulders and answered her. "It's Sailor Moon's Crystal Star." Akane nodded to herself and leaned towards them. "You know Rin might act like he doesn't like Sailor Moon but he was a really big fan of it back when he was younger, he stopped around the time he went to Australia but I guess when you're at a sport oriented school filled with young boys trying to act tough you can't admit that you like Sailor Moon. But I guess he still does since he bought the Sailor Moon 20th anniversary memorial tribute CD when we went to Tokyo to find an apartment."

"Ma, please shut up!"

Akane was stunned for a few seconds before she scowled at Rin. "Don't try to act different just because your friends are here. Until you leave this house you're under my rules and that means you do not yell at me." She glared at each boy before smiling and cracking her knuckles loudly. "I guess you're stressed, we've been packing since last night and you and Haru didn't go to bed until midnight. I found some old home movies so lets take a break and watch some." She stood and the boys moved away to clear a path for her to the door. She placed her hand on the doorframe and glanced over her shoulder at them. "I found some movies of Rin when he was a baby. Theres a really funny one of when he and Gou took a bath together and he peed in the tub." As she skipped away Haruka threw Rin to the floor and cut his eyes at him before following Akane out.

"What the hell did I do?"

Rin glared at Rei hoping he would give him an answer; Rei just stood up and left him fuming on his bedroom floor to follow the others downstairs. He walked into the living room and saw Akane sling her arm around Haruka, who was grimacing at a younger Rin splashing around in a bathtub with a younger, smaller Gou on the TV screen.

"Here comes the best part, Haru."

The Rin on the screen stood up and babbled towards whoever was holding the camera before he began to pee right into the water. Haruka stood up and bumped into Rei in his rush towards the stairs. Akane leaned over the couch and looked over at Rei, a questioning look was in her eyes.

"What's wrong with him?"

Rei could here Rin yelling upstairs and sighed as he pushed up his glasses.

"It's something personal, Akane-san."


End file.
